Hi
Last year my wife and I had our poor quality front hedge taken down and replaced by an expensive white American style PVC picket fence. It is not garish or over the top in any way. It is meant to never fade in colour and we bought it from a UK based company. We had it professionally installed and had loads of compliments from our neighbours and even passers by. Our neighbour next door is the exception. He is a psycho and attacked my wife in front of myself and our witnesses inside our house. He stood trial but got off on very dubious circumstances, we have asked for a judicial inquiry on this? He is the reason we replaced the hedge as no one could see our house from the road, and therefore gave him more cover to attack my wife in our house. He tried to strangle the previous family’s son at our house and he and his partner have criminal records.
Anyway he complained to the council that our fence is marginally over 1 metre at the front. While technically correct, it is set back over a foot from the path edge (we have a grass strip running along this width), there is also the fact we have a raised road so the fence is actually lower than the road!
A nice lady from the planning dept came out told my wife she thought the fence was 'lovely' and we shouldn't have a problem if we raised a retrospective planning permission request.
We duly this and several weeks down the line were shocked to see it has been refused. The reason being given is that it contravenes the following document. The refusal was not based on the height of the fence at all. It was based on section 64 of the following document.
National Planning Policy Framework
Section 64
Permission should be refused for development of poor design that fails totake the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of an area and the way it functions
The council said we should do the following
Move it back by about 1.5 metres (5 feet approx), replant a hedge and paint the fence brown or black to match others on the road.
Firstly the fence posts are cemented into the ground so can't be moved. The original hedge was only over a foot thick and of poor quality. The fence is not meant to be painted and would look awful if we did.
We really can't believe the council on this, whilst we live on a nice looking road our fence definitely improves the area.
We are not living in a council house or listed area. The road we live on is a complete mixture of fronts, hedges, fences, stone walls, metal fences etc.
Anyway I know we have one chance to appeal, what is the best way get a petition signed by the neighbours, contact some firm that deals with appeals (could be costly), send pictures etc? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Arakis777
Last year my wife and I had our poor quality front hedge taken down and replaced by an expensive white American style PVC picket fence. It is not garish or over the top in any way. It is meant to never fade in colour and we bought it from a UK based company. We had it professionally installed and had loads of compliments from our neighbours and even passers by. Our neighbour next door is the exception. He is a psycho and attacked my wife in front of myself and our witnesses inside our house. He stood trial but got off on very dubious circumstances, we have asked for a judicial inquiry on this? He is the reason we replaced the hedge as no one could see our house from the road, and therefore gave him more cover to attack my wife in our house. He tried to strangle the previous family’s son at our house and he and his partner have criminal records.
Anyway he complained to the council that our fence is marginally over 1 metre at the front. While technically correct, it is set back over a foot from the path edge (we have a grass strip running along this width), there is also the fact we have a raised road so the fence is actually lower than the road!
A nice lady from the planning dept came out told my wife she thought the fence was 'lovely' and we shouldn't have a problem if we raised a retrospective planning permission request.
We duly this and several weeks down the line were shocked to see it has been refused. The reason being given is that it contravenes the following document. The refusal was not based on the height of the fence at all. It was based on section 64 of the following document.
National Planning Policy Framework
Section 64
Permission should be refused for development of poor design that fails totake the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of an area and the way it functions
The council said we should do the following
Move it back by about 1.5 metres (5 feet approx), replant a hedge and paint the fence brown or black to match others on the road.
Firstly the fence posts are cemented into the ground so can't be moved. The original hedge was only over a foot thick and of poor quality. The fence is not meant to be painted and would look awful if we did.
We really can't believe the council on this, whilst we live on a nice looking road our fence definitely improves the area.
We are not living in a council house or listed area. The road we live on is a complete mixture of fronts, hedges, fences, stone walls, metal fences etc.
Anyway I know we have one chance to appeal, what is the best way get a petition signed by the neighbours, contact some firm that deals with appeals (could be costly), send pictures etc? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Arakis777